Tag - Steve Wozniak

We're halfway through our year-long history celebrating Apple's 40th anniversary, and we've reached a milestone for the entire computer industry. These days, that really means a milestone for the world -- and yet, it's one that is barely remembered, hardly celebrated, and when you know what it is, our perspective from all these years later actually makes it hard to really comprehend how monumental it is.

Previously on this week by week slicing of Apple history, we noted how Steve Wozniak had been dangerously tardy in 1976 about getting a legal release from his employer Hewlett Packard. Without that permission, the Apple I computer would've legally belonged to HP, and by the time Woz got the paperwork sorted out, he and Jobs were already deep into making their first sale. We were sorry to have teased you with how you'd have to wait until this week to see that Woz learned his lesson a little too well. Now we're very sorry to tease you that he would do something even more daft -- that we'll tell you about in November.

Quite a bit happened with Apple during the week of April 9 through 15m in the years 1976 to 2016. Yet with some irony, it is the forgotten third partner who, for this one week, looms very large. Ronald G. Wayne co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, then confounded everyone by bailing out 12 days later.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told online audiences today that he is very happy with the progress of Apple hardware and software. He further said that he approves of Tim Cook and especially of how the company continues the tradition of aiming to make good products. However, he told the readers of Reddit.com that he worries about what the Apple Watch reveals of the company's future.

Two more people have weighed in on the ongoing debate over governmental demands for weaker encryption, with slightly differing views. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has described the argument as being in the "middle of the worst dilemma ever," while Steve Wozniak took to a talk show to publicly side with Apple, claiming the FBI "picked the lamest case you ever could" to try and convince the public it needed access to encrypted smartphone data.

What we don't understand is how historians can be so certain about events that happened centuries ago: it is remarkably hard to be precise about details of Apple's history over just the last 40 years. Throughout this anniversary year -- Apple is 40, and MacNN is celebrating its 20th anniversary -- we're slicing the decades week by week. Every single week has proved to be packed with tumultuous failures, huge successes, key people, and not-so-key products. Yet just as we found with January, there are also hugely important milestones that cannot be pinned down to a day or a week.

Every book and article ever written about Apple history, including this year-long MacNN project, is going to feature Steve Jobs and the Mac. If you did a word cloud, the former would certainly dwarf everything else. Since most of the time Jobs was clashing with various people, though, it doesn't take long before you start to see a cast of characters in this company's history. However, it's only when you get down to this granular level, this week-by-week slicing, that you see all the fireworks.

While the new movie from Universal Pictures, Steve Jobs, has won nearly universal raves from critics and a key endorsement from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (who worked as a consultant on the film), it is always interesting to see what other key team members from the early days of Apple think of this latest effort to capture the quixotic nature of both the company's late co-founder. Andy Hertzfeld, the chief architect of the original Mac OS, has weighed in with a qualified endorsement of the film, calling it a "fine" movie that "deviates from reality everywhere" but serves to "expose the deeper truths" about Jobs.

[Updated with Tim Cook spotting] At least three of Apple's executive team, and its co-founder, have been spotted at various Apple Stores as part of the celebrations surrounding the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus around the world on Friday. Apple's retail chief, Dame Angela Ahrendts was at the Covent Garden store in London, while CEO Tim Cook was spotted in Georgetown, and VP of iPhone Marketing Greg Joswiak appeared at the icon "glass cube" Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The day also marked the debut of new gray t-shirts for the worldwide retail team. Steve Wozniak, as is his custom, stood in line with fans in Santa Clara to get his new iPhone.

(Warning: minor film spoilers are contained in this article) Early reviews of Steve Jobs, the two-hour Danny Boyle-Aaron Sorkin collaboration for Universal Pictures that stars offbeat casting choice Michael Fassbender in the title role, are in and are uniformly positive about the film. The movie presents Apple co-founder and former CEO Jobs as "both an iconic visionary and a monster with a silicon chip where his heart should be," but uses history, Jobs' daughter Lisa, and an ensemble cast to create an "astonishingly brilliant" film that even won raves from another co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak.

Now AAPL Stock: 157.86 ( -3.09 )

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Share

Developer414d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

Share

414d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Share

Industry414d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Share

Troubleshooting414d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Share

Upgrades/storage414d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Share

Investor415d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE